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Landscape Arboretum Take 2

Always trust the body! It does not lie!

The Arboretum maps apparently give distance on only the trails that are specifically labeled with that name, ignoring all the distance you have to cover on other trails before you get to the main trail you're traversing, so with Matt's handy GPS training watch, we were able to map last weekend's route on Sunday. You can play with all the Garmin online features here (the screen shots above came from the data provided by Google/Garmin), except for the heart monitor, I just couldn't convince myself the discomfort to Matt would be worth the data:
Garmin Connect - Activity Details for The long loop at the Landscape Arboretum.

The part that most amazes is how far we went -- 4.28 miles in less than an hour-- with a crazy amount of elevation change (up and down, up and down). Maybe I'm in better shape than I thought I was. I managed not to not fall at all this time, and the trail was a bit icy, so I consider that quite the accomplishment--I even skated up a few of the mellower hills. . .

Matt on the first hill we climb up on the Arboretum Trail


Big Ben's bench, in my opinion, far more useful than a tombstone.


Me on the bridge before the last hill push to the end.

Valentine Visit to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

Matt and I have been trying to make it out to the Arboretum for several weeks to check out their XC ski trails. Today was the day, conveniently giving us some time together without Optimus. We arrived before Saul and Noel, and used the opportunity to explore the Orchard exhibit in the Great Hall. It was amazing, and I took a lot of pictures. I wish I could share the fragrant flowers with you as well. Due to the large volume of photos, I am posting a few selections here and a link to the Picasa album if you want to see them all.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum

After a pleasant interlude with these warm blooded flowers we hit the trails, following the Forest Trail to the Arboretum Trail to the Green Heron Trail back to the trail head. The map says we went 3.5 miles, but my body would argue it must have been more.



The trail started out in a mix of coniferous and deciduous forests, edged by prairie and fields of wild flowers, then transitioned into the various demonstration gardens. The light was perfect, the sky so blue it looked fake. . .a really nice morning.

Last Day of Snowboarding Lessons

Optimus had his last day of lessons today. The school went to Wild Mountain for the day. The little guy competed on a Giant Slalom course, and did pretty well.




The hoar frost on the way there was amazing, and on this tree in particular I couldn't stop admiring it.




I was enamored of their snow making machines. So sturdy looking, yet delicate at the same time.

The Great Backyard Bird Count!

You can be a citizen scientist this coming weekend. Information about the Great Backyard Bird Count is here.

Snow. . . Spears?

When the boy and I left for work this morning we were amazed to see that the falling snow wasn't flakes. We both assumed that when it's snowing, it's snowing snowflakes. This snow looked like tiny spears of snow, similar in shape to the frost we saw on the trees during the days of heavy fog a few weeks ago. Upon further Google assisted research I learned that the snow we were seeing was probably needle snow crystals. Neat!


Photo from Caltech's Snow crystals site

Finally Got my Skates on the Ice

Finally got my skates out on the ice on Monday.



It was snowing and the roads were crappy so I didn't want to take Optimus to Kung Fu when his ride canceled. The rink is plowed on the west side of Lake Nokomis, by the beach with all the playground equipment. The rink inside the boards near the big flood lights was being used for Community Hockey League, but the other 12 that had been plowed and flooded for the pond hockey championship, that didn't happen with much fanfare this year because of the rain, were all ours.




I tentatively attempted to find my inner figure skater, no doubt looking insanely ridiculous, but the boys encouraged me and in no time we were parting the few inches of accumulated snow, leaving curvy lines, loops and the remnants of wipe outs behind.




We ventured to Pepitos for dinner post skate, not feeling up to cooking something worth eating, Optimus was quite pleased with his menu, especially when I told him Jack climbed a ruin in Mexico that may have resembled the one in the picture.




To top off the pleasant evening of skating, tasty Tex-Mex, and a happy family. . . we saw a sturdy looking russet colored fox dash across the parkway near its intersection with Cedar Ave on our way back to the house. In pursuit of a rabbit? Perhaps.








I love our new neighborhood.

Lake Turned Perfect XC Moonscape

We've been cross country skiing on the lake at night. The past few nights have been spectacular for this endeavor with the full moon lighting our way. . . or the light pollution reflecting off the cloud cover, as the case may be. Matt's borrowed a XC ski set-up from a work friend, and I took my skis out of their long multi-winter storage (see Mom, I told you I'd use them for a long time! : ) so we could take advantage of the mostly clear lake surface for some athletic exploration.




My resourceful friend Laura actually prompted our adventuring with a link she sent me to a list of snowshoeing opportunities around the city that included Nokomis across the street. The list included a few nighttime wildlife walks by snowshoe and I figured if the parks people can romp around the lake on snowshoes in the dark, there wasn't any reason we couldn't ski. Especially when past nightfall seemed to be the only time we didn't have other stuff going on.

I struggle to find appropriate words for the exhilaration and refreshment I received as we traveled further and further from shore. . . Winter in the city is always muted, but the silence of the frozen lake was nature in its most dampened state. The moonscape exuded a zen-like calm that forced me to periodically just stop and breathe deeply as I admired the moonlight reflecting off the gentle wind ripples composed of snow and ice. Gentle is probably the wrong word for the fierce winds that formed them, but in the still air of the night, they happily embraced the description. Abandoned fishing holes proved easy to spot, since they were the only protruding mounds as far as the eye could see. On our way back to shore we saw two other adventurous souls pulling a sled out from shore towards the Cedar Ave bridge for some moonlight ice fishing, so we knew we weren't the only ones, which was nice.

Saturday we talked Saul and Noel into joining us for an XC ski outing on the lake after dinner, and it proved to be equally as awe inspiring, albeit a tad bit chillier with a breeze at our backs as we headed back to the house where a toasty fire and nightcaps were waiting.

The January Rains

Pearl Park Ice Rink

The weather the past few days hasn't really been typical for Minnesota in January.

I finally got myself a pair of ice skates so I could go skating with the boys this weekend. Unfortunately, the past few days have been nothing but rain, so the rinks were flooded-- thwarting our plan for family fun. As much as I hope it freezes up so I can skate, I know that also means icy sidewalks and treacherous roads. Leaving me conflicted on this current state of seasonal dysfunction.

Outside In

I'm taking classes on the St. Paul campus to learn more about horticulture for my new volunteer role as a U of M Hennepin County Master Gardener. The class lasts for four weeks. . .48 hours of intensely condensed course material to give us somewhere to start from before we start educating the general population. I went for a little adventure scouting out the closest restrooms and wandered into this lobby that looks so very much like a cozy streetscape. I love it.

St. Paul Again for Some Science

We received a gift membership to the Science Museum for Christmas this year, so we decided it would be a nice end of vacation family outing to go there and see the Titanic exhibit and play for a bit in the other exhibits.

Just outside the Titanic line, they've redone the exhibits on the floor, replacing an infectious disease exhibit with some more hands on tools. Opti thought this bike generator was awesome, especially when he realized he could light up a whole string of CFLs instead of just barely lighting one incandecent bulb.

This table lets you build models of various molicules. This is ethanol. A MN favorite.


On the lowest level of exhibits, Opti helped assemble to skeleton of a dinosaur. He was rather pleased with his paleontology skills.


The native plant maze looks awesome in winter. . .so peaceful.

Getting some Culture in to make up for the lack of Classroom Time

I know, I know, winter break is supposed to be a "break" for kids, but the little guy just loves to learn stuff(ok and I do too)!

My sister was visiting from Tampa so I took a few days off from work to hang out with her, Matt and the boy. Matt went snowboarding Monday, so we figured it might be a good day to check out the Minnesota History Center, since Christi had never been there and Optimus was curious to see an exhibit about Ben Franklin. I could tell Christi was a little skeptical that the History Center would be "fun," but she was willing to humor the little guy.



Little did she know, but she would actually enjoy it! The Greatest Generation exhibit my aunt recommended we not miss was neat, the Ben Franklin exhibit was awesome--especially the interactive travel piece that let us try and travel the route Ben did to Philly. The first time, no sweat, the next eight. . . not so good.

Optimus even got to serve as the esteemed Mr. Franklin's assistant during one of his thunder house explanations, which was rather awesome, even now, so I can imagine how mind blowing it must have been in his time. I've included a video of the explanation of a thunder house, as I was unable to find on on the internets anywhere else.



Charging up a liden jar

Checking out the Thunder House Replica

Making Munitions in the Greatest Generation exhibit

The ever entertaining GRAINLAND! Where you get to pretend to be one of the grains grown in Minnesota and follow the path though the elevator to your mode of transport. Think McDonalds Playplace filled with children of people looking for educational fun.



In addition to visiting the MN History Center we also checked out a few St. Paul landmarks that she'd never been to, and that I haven't visited in so long I don't really remember being there, the State Capitol and the Cathedral of St. Paul. I couldn't have ever visited the cathedral before, because it is so beautiful inside that I'm sure I would have remembered it. . .as beautiful as any church I've visited in Europe. I can't quite figure out what took me so long to pay it a visit.

Perhaps it was the ice rink they had for stairs?


I've got a thing for the interiors of domes, and the cathedral has one that is just gorgeous.


Optimus lit a votive, while thinking happy thoughts for the world


The Capitol


Interior of Capitol Dome


In Session Home of our State Reps




The reason we went to the capitol in the first place. . .LEGOs